So there's this art installation near my workplace.



  • It's basically a chain of three metal ribcage tunnels and you can walk through them to make it generate lights and ice noises. It's called Iceberg and provided by power company Electrabel. The effects supposedly resemble an iceberg drifting south and melting, and the point is that the more people walk through it and wave their arms around inside, the more pleasant sounds it makes ("a source of immersive experiences redefining the relationship of visitors with the public space").

    The sign next to it invites curious commuters to (translated) "warm up the barometers of climate" together.

    Relevant questions:

    • Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?
    • How do melting icebergs benefit the public image of a power company?
    • Does a barometer measure temperature?

     

    But hey, shiny, and it's fun to watch people hit their head at the exit.


     


  • BINNED

    Real art doesn't need installation instructions.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    Hmm. Think I agree with the 'shiny' bit:





  • A couple of comments come to mind:


    -- If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)


    -- A suitcase and a empty plastic bottle in the center of an otherwise empty room is "art" (seen at the Walker art museum in Minneapolis -- http://cdn1.walkerartcenter.org/static/cache/6b/6b0b68afe5bae931b5c4f63040aa193c.jpg)


    -- And yes, "art" shouldn't need instruction or explanation.



  • @DrPepper said:

    A suitcase and a empty plastic bottle in the center of an otherwise empty room is "art" (seen at the Walker art museum in Minneapolis

    I guess only in an art museum. Sadly, anywhere else in the western world, those items left alone like that call for a 3-Block-radius law enforcement lockdown.


  • BINNED

    That's the joke?


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Brother Laz said:

    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?

    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @Brother Laz said:
    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?

    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.


    My facial froze waiting for the bus this morning. Fuck all that noise.



  • @mikeTheLiar said:

    My facial froze
    Maybe you should wipe it off before going outside?



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @mikeTheLiar said:

    My facial froze
    Maybe you should wipe it off before going outside?


    Derp. That should say "keratin".



  • @boomzilla said:

    POLAR VORTEX.
     

    Damn you, The Weather Channel, and all your silly weather names and sensational terms*.

     

    *Yes I know a polar vortex is a real thing, but it doesn't need to be sensationalized.


  • BINNED

    @boomzilla said:

    @Brother Laz said:
    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?

    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.

    Or move to Texas. Down here the polar vortex was only mildly annoyed.



  •  

    @boomzilla said:
    @Brother Laz said:
    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?

    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.

    Ironically the temperature hasn't even come NEAR freezing here.
    Instead of a white Christmas, we got a rainy one with two weeks of
    strong winds and occasional property damage.

    Darn Americans, keeping all the cold for themselves.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @mikeTheLiar said:

    My facial froze
    Maybe you should wipe it off before going outside?

    Now I'm curious what temperature that would take, but afraid to google it. Especially while at work.



  • @Brother Laz said:

     

    @boomzilla said:
    @Brother Laz said:
    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?

    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.

    Ironically the temperature hasn't even come NEAR freezing here.
    Instead of a white Christmas, we got a rainy one with two weeks of
    strong winds and occasional property damage.

    Darn Americans, keeping all the cold for themselves.

    There's plenty to go around, come on over and get some! It shrinks down easily to fit into your carryon...



  • @Brother Laz said:

    @boomzilla said:
    @Brother Laz said:
    Who thought anyone would want to "warm up (...) climate"?
    I can easily imagine someone who spends a lot of time around icebergs wishing for a warmer climate. Or anyone experiencing the wrath of a POLAR VORTEX.

    Ironically the temperature hasn't even come NEAR freezing here. Instead of a white Christmas, we got a rainy one with two weeks of strong winds and occasional property damage.

    Darn Americans, keeping all the cold for themselves.

    I'm so glad that we got the cold, I've been missing winter (though watching southerners panic about mild cold weather does get annoying).



  • @DrPepper said:

    If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)
    The trouble is that there is a world of difference between thinking (or even knowing) you can do something, and actually getting off your ass and doing it.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @DrPepper said:
    If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)
    The trouble is that there is a world of difference between thinking (or even knowing) you can do something, and actually getting off your ass and doing it.

    That's only trouble if you take the statement stupidly literally. The point in there is that good art should also have some craft to it. Just throwing some junk on the ground takes zero craft.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @DrPepper said:
    If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)
    The trouble is that there is a world of difference between thinking (or even knowing) you can do something, and actually getting off your ass and doing it.

    It's almost as if... Red Green... is a... comedian? And maybe not everything he says should be taken literally? Naaah.



  • No shit, am happy to work in Uccle, that way i don't have to suffer this every now and then :D

    BTW electrable don't warm the climate, they just leave tons of radioactive materials for the next fex thousands year but "Hey, it doesn't emit CO2"



  • About those relevant questions, if the phrase is "warm up the barometers of climate", you don't really need to look very far fo the ansers.

    1 - Why would somebody not want to warm-up a barometer? Barometers at below freezing temperature are hard to handle and not very precise.

    2 - You can count of them for help in melting it, one way or the other. It's unmelt icebergs that don't fit well near them.

    3 - No, but I can't see how that's relevant.

    Now, for all of you complaining about the cold, today here it just got to 26°C (now, at night). I'm quite glad that the temperature finally got down, it's easier to sleep that way.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    It's almost as if... Red Green... is a... comedian? And maybe not everything he says should be taken literally? Naaah.
    I know who Red Green is and I have the Duct Tape to prove it.



  • @Zylon said:

    @OzPeter said:

    @DrPepper said:
    If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)
    The trouble is that there is a world of difference between thinking (or even knowing) you can do something, and actually getting off your ass and doing it.

    That's only trouble if you take the statement stupidly literally. The point in there is that good art should also have some craft to it. Just throwing some junk on the ground takes zero craft.

    And there you go imposing your rigid definition of what art should and should not be. It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist. But with that said, it's not up to the artist to impose his/her interpretation of the piece on you - that is all your own doing, and no 2 people will react in the same way.

    But with regards to art and artists, I'm not taking Red Green literally. The difference between artist and audience has less to do with talent or artistry and more to do with a lack of belief on the audience's part that they could be an artist.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @OzPeter said:

    It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist.

    You are wrong.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @Zylon said:

    @OzPeter said:

    @DrPepper said:
    If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)
    The trouble is that there is a world of difference between thinking (or even knowing) you can do something, and actually getting off your ass and doing it.

    That's only trouble if you take the statement stupidly literally. The point in there is that good art should also have some craft to it. Just throwing some junk on the ground takes zero craft.

    And there you go imposing your rigid definition of what art should and should not be. It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist. But with that said, it's not up to the artist to impose his/her interpretation of the piece on you - that is all your own doing, and no 2 people will react in the same way.

    But with regards to art and artists, I'm not taking Red Green literally. The difference between artist and audience has less to do with talent or artistry and more to do with a lack of belief on the audience's part that they could be an artist.

    Immanuel Kent was a real pissant who was very rarely stable...



  • @PedanticCurmudgeon said:

    Real art doesn't need installation instructions.
    Maybe it does, but real art definitely doesn't need audience instructions.  I'm sure even Yoko would concede that.

    The OP's art installation, though, has what I've heard described as "all the earmarks of an eyesore".



  • @boomzilla said:

    @OzPeter said:
    It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist.

    You are wrong.

    Oh great sage please enlighten me why I am wrong, because just fucking saying I am wrong and pointing me to a video of a performance artists doesn't cut it.



  • @da Doctah said:

    @PedanticCurmudgeon said:

    Real art doesn't need installation instructions.
    The OP's art installation, though, has what I've heard described as "all the earmarks of an eyesore".

    Eyesore?, that's not an eyesore. This is an eyesore



  • @OzPeter said:

    @da Doctah said:

    @PedanticCurmudgeon said:

    Real art doesn't need installation instructions.
    The OP's art installation, though, has what I've heard described as "all the earmarks of an eyesore".

    Eyesore?, that's not an eyesore. This is an eyesore


    Is there a difference between "sight for sore eyes" and "eyesore"?



  •  



  • -- If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)

    I can sing. Therefore, singing is not art.


  • Considered Harmful

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    -- If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)

    I can sing. Therefore, singing is not art.

    The man formerly known as Prince.


  • @joe.edwards said:

    @Maciejasjmj said:
    -- If I can do it, then its not art (Red Green)

    I can sing. Therefore, singing is not art.

    The man formerly known as Prince.
    The man formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince

     


  • Garbage Person

     @too_many_usernames said:

    @boomzilla said:

    POLAR VORTEX.
     

    Damn you, The Weather Channel, and all your silly weather names and sensational terms*.

     

    *Yes I know a polar vortex is a real thing, but it doesn't need to be sensationalized.

    Just be grateful they aren't naming polar vortices yet.

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @OzPeter said:

    And there you go imposing your rigid definition of what art should and should not be. It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist. But with that said, it's not up to the artist to impose his/her interpretation of the piece on you - that is all your own doing, and no 2 people will react in the same way.
    So being unable to communicate successfully is a fundamental part of the modern art scene?



  • @Weng said:

    Just be grateful they aren't naming polar vortices yet.

    What's in a name? A polar vortex known
    By any other name would suck as hard;
    As would Boomzilla, were he not so called,
    Retain the blinkered worldview he has shown
    Without that title.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @da Doctah said:

    @PedanticCurmudgeon said:

    Real art doesn't need installation instructions.
    The OP's art installation, though, has what I've heard described as "all the earmarks of an eyesore".

    Eyesore?, that's not an eyesore. This is an eyesore

    Is that how pup tents are made?


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @OzPeter said:

    @boomzilla said:
    @OzPeter said:
    It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist.

    You are wrong.

    Oh great sage please enlighten me why I am wrong, because just fucking saying I am wrong and pointing me to a video of a performance artists doesn't cut it.

    Because I don't accept your arbitrary definition of what art is, and I definitely don't accept the definition of art from some chiseler who wants to...whatever the fuck that chick thought she was doing. I'll substitute my own definition. Just like everyone else does. And the linked performance isn't art. It's OK if we don't agree on what is or isn't art. Unless you're trying to force the public to pay for your shenanigans, it's one of the least consequential things we'll disagree about.

    Is anyone else amused by how many feminist art types tell us that we're all so uncomfortable with female anatomy, and then do some ridiculous stunt to try to prove it, but when some guy on a silly TV show expresses what most guys think about female anatomy (i.e., they like it a lot, especially compared to other, somewhat similar parts of human anatomy) it's evidence that he's a hateful bigot?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @boomzilla said:

    and I definitely don't accept the definition of art from some chiseler who wants to...whatever the fuck that chick thought she was doing.
    FTFW (Link probably NSFW for most, text below NSFL - highlight to reveal. Sorry to email subscribers if your client ignores the <font color="white">):

    <font color="white">Casting Off My Womb is a 28 day performance piece first performed at the Darwin Visual Arts Association (DVAA) from October to November, 2013.

    The performance consists of me sitting on a plain wooden chest in the gallery space and knitting from wool lodged in my vaginal tunnel, one skein of wool each day, to mark a full menstrual cycle. As the passage of knitting grows longer it is suspended from the ceiling on wire coat-hangers. As each day of knitting passes, a manual calendar is clicked over to mark the number of days remaining until the piece will be ‘cast off’.</font>


  • @boomzilla said:

    @OzPeter said:
    @boomzilla said:
    @OzPeter said:
    It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist.

    You are wrong.

    Oh great sage please enlighten me why I am wrong, because just fucking saying I am wrong and pointing me to a video of a performance artists doesn't cut it.

    Because I don't accept your arbitrary definition of what art is

    And this is my problem why?

    It seems that you just want to deny me my beliefs solely in order to impose your own. That's about at the level of a 5 year old saying "No, you're wrong and I'm right".


  • @boomzilla said:

    Is anyone else amused
     

    No.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @OzPeter said:

    @boomzilla said:
    @OzPeter said:
    @boomzilla said:
    @OzPeter said:
    It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist.

    You are wrong.

    Oh great sage please enlighten me why I am wrong, because just fucking saying I am wrong and pointing me to a video of a performance artists doesn't cut it.

    Because I don't accept your arbitrary definition of what art is

    And this is my problem why?

    It seems that you just want to deny me my beliefs solely in order to impose your own. That's about at the level of a 5 year old saying "No, you're wrong and I'm right".

    What? But that's what you said that artists were supposed to do to me. Is this a performance piece where you contradict your earlier statements? It's a good start, but you have a ways to go before you catch up with the genre leader blakeyrat.

    I said that we're all going to disagree about what art is and isn't, and that's OK.



  • @OzPeter said:

    And there you go imposing your rigid definition of what art should and should not be. It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist. But with that said, it's not up to the artist to impose his/her interpretation of the piece on you - that is all your own doing, and no 2 people will react in the same way.
    Abalone capital of the world



  • @flabdablet said:

    Abalone capital of the world
     

    Someone did that on purpose. I'm sure of it.



  • @boomzilla said:


    What? But that's what you said that artists were supposed to do to me. Is this a performance piece where you contradict your earlier statements? It's a good start, but you have a ways to go before you catch up with the genre leader blakeyrat.

    I said that we're all going to disagree about what art is and isn't, and that's OK.

    Your pathetic attempt to mis-represent my position has been noted.

  • ♿ (Parody)

    @OzPeter said:

    @boomzilla said:


    What? But that's what you said that artists were supposed to do to me. Is this a performance piece where you contradict your earlier statements? It's a good start, but you have a ways to go before you catch up with the genre leader blakeyrat.

    I said that we're all going to disagree about what art is and isn't, and that's OK.

    Your pathetic attempt to mis-represent my position has been noted.

    WTF. I don't get it. How did I misrepresent your position? You said that it was up to the artist to decide for his audience if his work was art. I said that I (and everyone else) was allowed to reserve our own judgment. How are you not the one saying that some other person is/should enforce his beliefs on others? And then accusing me of doing exactly that?


  • BINNED

    @dkf said:

    @OzPeter said:
    And there you go imposing your rigid definition of what art should and should not be. It's not up to you to decide what art is, it's up to the artist. But with that said, it's not up to the artist to impose his/her interpretation of the piece on you - that is all your own doing, and no 2 people will react in the same way.
    So being unable to communicate successfully is a fundamental part of the modern art scene?
    Not exactly. It's more being unwilling to communicate successfully.



  • @boomzilla said:

    @OzPeter said:
    @boomzilla said:

    What? But that's what you said that artists were supposed to do to me. Is this a performance piece where you contradict your earlier statements? It's a good start, but you have a ways to go before you catch up with the genre leader blakeyrat.

    I said that we're all going to disagree about what art is and isn't, and that's OK.

    Your pathetic attempt to mis-represent my position has been noted.
    WTF. I don't get it. How did I misrepresent your position? You said that it was up to the artist to decide for his audience if his work was art. I said that I (and everyone else) was allowed to reserve our own judgment. How are you not the one saying that some other person is/should enforce his beliefs on others? And then accusing me of doing exactly that?

    FTFY.  OzPeter said it is up to the artist to decide if something is art, but the audience would make their own interpretations thereof (from my view this could include "this ain't art").  Something can be art to the artist and to members of the audience it just be something silly or annoying, but that doesn't change the fact that it counts as "art".


  • Considered Harmful

    @locallunatic said:

    @boomzilla said:

    @OzPeter said:
    @boomzilla said:

    What? But that's what you said that artists were supposed to do to me. Is this a performance piece where you contradict your earlier statements? It's a good start, but you have a ways to go before you catch up with the genre leader blakeyrat.

    I said that we're all going to disagree about what art is and isn't, and that's OK.

    Your pathetic attempt to mis-represent my position has been noted.
    WTF. I don't get it. How did I misrepresent your position? You said that it was up to the artist to decide for his audience if his work was art. I said that I (and everyone else) was allowed to reserve our own judgment. How are you not the one saying that some other person is/should enforce his beliefs on others? And then accusing me of doing exactly that?

    FTFY.  OzPeter said it is up to the artist to decide if something is art, but the audience would make their own interpretations thereof (from my view this could include "this ain't art").  Something can be art to the artist and to members of the audience it just be something silly or annoying, but that doesn't change the fact that it counts as "art".

    Did anyone else think of Rabo Karabekian?


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @locallunatic said:

    OzPeter said it is up to the artist to decide if something is art, but the audience would make their own interpretations thereof (from my view this could include "this ain't art").  Something can be art to the artist and to members of the audience it just be something silly or annoying, but that doesn't change the fact that it counts as "art".

    OK, I'm just saying that the determination of something even being "art" is part of the interpretation, then.


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